Medical Travel Expenses

You can claim a range of expenses for medical-related costs from the CRA. An important cost you can deduct on your tax return is medical travel expenses when you drive or use public transport to reach a medical centre that provides the medical care you need.

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Medical travel expenses you can claim

You can claim medical mileage from the CRA if you travel over 40 kilometres in one direction in order to receive medical attention. In order for your mileage to qualify, you must observe the following rules from the CRA:

• You weren’t able to receive the medical care you needed near your home
• You took a reasonably direct route to the medical facility
• It was reasonable for you to travel to the specific medical facility in order to receive the needed medical service

You can claim mileage with your own car or a rented one, as well as any public transport costs such as bus, taxi and train fares if that was your mode of transportation.

How to claim medical mileage from the CRA

The CRA provides two methods with which you can claim medical travel expenses - the simplified and detailed methods.

With the simplified method, you can use a flat per-kilometre rate to claim medical travel expenses. Each province and territory has a different cents per kilometre rate. With the detailed method, you can claim your actual medical travel expenses.

You can only use one method during a tax year.

If you use the simplified method for claiming medical travel expenses, it is highly recommended that you keep track of your medical mileage, as the CRA may ask for proof of your claim.

If you decide to use the detailed method in order to claim medical travel expenses, you will need to keep all receipts related to your medical mileage. These can include gas, fuel, oil, tyres, insurance, maintenance and repairs receipts for your vehicle, and bus, taxi and train tickets. You also need to keep track of your mileage, including your total mileage and mileage related to medical purposes.

If you use your vehicle to travel for medical purposes, you can find the percentage of medical mileage by dividing your medical travel by the total travel for the year. You will be able to claim a percentage of your fixed and variable costs to maintain and drive your vehicle equal to the percentage of medical travel you had during the year. For example, if 3% of your total kilometres were for medical purposes, you will be able to claim 3% of your vehicle expenses during the year.

Learn more about medical travel and other medical expenses you can claim and see the flat per-kilometre rates for the simplified method.

Do you also use your vehicle for work-related travel? See our CRA guide on mileage allowance and deductions where you’ll learn how to claim work-related travel and what records you need to keep.